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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Patch 4.2 Built 14040: More Eclipse Changes?

I maybe jumping the gun here a little bit, MMO Champion has posted some details about an upcoming build of the PTR. I want to make one thing clear. This is Data Minded information which is not official in anyway. It may be something as stupid as a tool tip fix (though I don't see how that is possible in this case). In short, Read With Caution!!

Lunar Shower Change:

Lunar Shower now has an additional effect: While you are under the effect of Lunar Shower, Moonfire generates 8 Solar Energy and Sunfire generates 8 Lunar Energy.

I find this change interesting, but it's only one piece of the puzzle and we are short on details. To be honest this raises a lot more questions then it answers.

Question #1: Is this in addition to the changes released last week? For example, will Moonfire generate 16 Solar Energy when Lunar Shower is active?My Guess: I highly doubt it. Having Moonfire and Sunfire generate more energy then Wrath or Starsurge doesn't sound right. If this is in addition to last weeks change, I don't have a clue as to what the purpose of it is. The base level DoT energy would already discourage "Solar Cleave" type rotations and DoT AoE. This would just magnify the change. As a result, I'm assuming that this replaces the base level DoT Energy introduced last weak at least for Moonfire and Sunfire.

Question #2: If we assume this replaces the base DoT energy, does that mean Insect Swarm no longer generates energy?My Guess: This is a complete guess, but I don't see a purpose to having Insect Swarm generate a energy at a base level but Moonfire and Sunfire to not. That said who knows. This is Data Minded info after all.

Question #3: What does this mean for Moonkin DPS?I'm going to assume that this replaces the DoT energy introduced last week in it's entirity. Meaning that I think none of Balance DoTs will generate any energy unless we have lunar shower. If that is the case I like this change.

It's a small improvement over the previous version; it limits the impact on more normal styles of play. For example, on a Patchwerk style fight this should have absolutely no impact because there is never a reason to spam Moonfire or Sunfire and no extra energy will be generated. On a dual target fight like V&T skill players should be able to limit the impact by spacing out the DoT refreshes. I think Hamlet said it best on EJ when he said "it accomplishes the goal of removing endless Sunfire spam, but doesn't affect our ordinary single-target rotation. So in that sense, it avoids a lot of the side effects and complications of the prior version."

I still have concerns that it creates a bit of a trap when it comes to movement DPS, since there will be times when it's bad to spam Moonfire while in Eclipse, but there is probably no way around that.

Also, a lot of players will still dislike how this affects a Moonkins ability to control Eclipse with Moonfire. This is one of the big things that separated the elite moonkin from the pack. I think this is going to be the real impact of this change. It's going to nerf the Elite moonkin because they can't use one of their tricks anymore, but shouldn't have a big impact on your more average moonkin, and that may be part of Blizzards goal.

Seven Bosses and Eight Skulls:

One thing that I found a little confusing in MMO Champions information was the pictures they had of the Firelands Raid instance. One of the big debates over the last week is how Firelands will have only seven bosses, yet if you look at the maps you see eight skulls.

There are three maps. The first is of the Firelands and has five skulls on it. The last is of Sulfuron Keep and has two skulls. The middle map is of a place called The Anvil of Conflagration, and it has a skull in it as well. The way you get there appears to be by a portal from the Firelands raid. If you notice the portal design in the Anvil's map is the same as that of the portal in the upper left hand corner of the Firelands map.

It's possible that there is some overlap her but I doubt it. What is the eighth skull for? Is it a Heroic only level boss like Algalon and Sinestra? Is it a minor optional boss like the animal bosses in Karazhan?

Tier 12 Druid Set:

I talked about the set bonuses last week, and now we get our first look at the stats on the set pieces. MMO Champion doesn't have the pieces grouped into sets yet, but you can tell by the names which pieces are apart of the Balance tier.

I took a look at the stats to see if there were any itemization changes and there were none. The Tier 12 set stats are the exact same design as the stats we have on our Tier 11 set. The sockets are the same, the socket bonuses are the same, and the only thing that is different is the amount of stats.

If this goes live it should make upgrading gear a littler easier because you want have to deal with big changes in your hit level when replacing tier items, but I wonder if these items are complete yet. I wouldn't be surprised if these are upgraded place holders at this point.

5 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I'm seeing this as an in-addition-to and it is for PvP help with eclipse. Moonfire helps all the way since the cast spell is so long, but Sunfire is somewhat powerful and pushes you out faster but only halfway, then you have the short cast as well as IS (which has no immediate dmg). It is possible that you never get a cast off in PvP (cc/interrupts), especially with being focused and/or having a melee on you.

I believe that is why IS is not on it, because it is combined with the shorter cast wrath. Now this could benefit PvE as well, but it seems balanced. Possible to have a wrath setup since you can get to solar faster or for specific encounters or portions of them. Technically, NG could last all the way to push to solar? 8 to start, 192 to go, 16solar each near 1sec gcd 12casts to solar?

Well now I'm not so certain it's in addition but both ways make sense and one adds an additional playstyle. I'm no mathboy, I just go by common sense, so I could be wrong on the above.

If things are as proposed then cancelaura macros will become the norm to allow for multidotting in Solar without loss of energy. AoE output will still be hurt because the initial hit of moonfire/sunfire will not hit as hard (no Lunar Shower 135% boost) and it will cost more (no 90% mana reduction). Still, since the initial component is by far the smaller component when compared to the actual DoT ticks, I think this would be the preferred approach for 5+ mobs AoE. In fact it may mean no Lunar Shower talent at all in PVE.

I was reading some blue posts, and it looks like there will be a boss just for those who have or are completing the legendary weapon.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2489079517?page=9#171

"But there is also a ton of other content as well: many new quests, legendary-specific raid boss fights, and a great personal challenge which evokes the spirit of those old classic World of Warcraft epic quests."

The purpose of this Lunar Shower change is to leave the PVE DPS mostly unchanged while removing the viability of the moonkin in arenas (i.e. the LSD2 comp, the only moonkin comp, which, even then, only works because of Unstable Affliction).